Chicago and Boston, June 13, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Guaranteed Rate, Inc. (the “Company” or “Guaranteed Rate”), a leading national independent retail mortgage company, today announced that it has closed on a previously announced strategic investment from funds affiliated with Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”), a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies. Through its investment, THL has acquired a minority stake in Guaranteed Rate. Company founder Victor Ciardelli continues to lead Guaranteed Rate as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board running day-to-day operations. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Company has built a national reputation as the preferred home purchase expert by creating and implementing a customer centric vision that is unique in the industry. Built upon the foundation of delivering the best pricing and mortgage products along with unmatched expertise from its top-producing loan officers, Guaranteed Rate has helped thousands of customers land their dream homes. In 2015, the Company introduced the world’s first digital mortgage, creating an easy-to-understand, transparent loan process, which has led to an industry-leading customer satisfaction rating and exponential growth.

“This is an exciting time in our strategic growth plan, as we take market share and drive towards our ultimate goal of becoming the country’s largest retail mortgage lender,” said Ciardelli. “Having the support of THL as a partner gives us added scale and resources to accelerate our growth and further enhance the Company’s value proposition to real estate partners, loan officers and consumers.”

“This closing announcement comes at a remarkable time, as we deliver our third consecutive month of record-setting business performance for the month of May. This positions 2018 to be the Company’s largest year in total loan volume.”

May was the best month in Guaranteed Rate’s history, setting several new performance records, most notably $3.49 billion in locked volume, and 10,981 locked units. Additionally, the Company continues to recruit and hire aggressively across the country. In May, the Company onboarded 91 loan officers, now totaling nearly 400 loan officer hires in 2018.

“With its impressive performance, proven track record, and industry leading purchase origination mix – Guaranteed Rate has outstanding potential and is well positioned to continue growing and winning market share. The Company’s unique technology and innovative platform allow for a seamless customer experience and offer consumers, realtors and Guaranteed Rate’s loan officers a compelling value proposition,” said Ganesh Rao, Managing Director at THL. “Victor and the Guaranteed Rate team have built an impressive leader in the mortgage space, and we look forward to continuing to work with them and supporting the Company’s growth and success moving forward.”

About Guaranteed Rate

Guaranteed Rate is one of the largest retail mortgage lenders in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the Company has approximately 210 offices across the U.S. and Washington, D.C., and is licensed in all 50 states. Since its founding in 2000, Guaranteed Rate has helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners with home purchase loans and refinances and funded nearly $19 billion in loans in 2017 alone. The Company has become the Home Purchase Experts® by introducing the world’s first Digital Mortgage technology and offering low rate, low fee mortgages through an easy-to-understand process and unparalleled customer service. Guaranteed Rate won an American Business Award for its Digital Mortgage technology in 2016, ranked No. 1 in Scotsman Guide’s Top Mortgage Lenders 2016, was chosen as Top Lender 2016 and 2017 by Chicago Agent magazine, made the Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces list seven of the past eight years, and was named Best Overall Online Lender and Best Lender for FHA Refinance by NerdWallet in 2018. Visit rate.com for more information.

About Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.

Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies, headquartered in North America, exclusively in four industry sectors: Business & Financial Services, Consumer & Retail, Healthcare, and Media, Information Services & Technology. Using the firm’s deep domain expertise and the internal operating capabilities of its Strategic Resource Group, THL seeks to create deal sourcing advantages, and to accelerate growth and improve operations in its portfolio companies in partnership with management teams. Since its founding in 1974, THL has raised over $22 billion of equity capital, acquired over 140 portfolio companies and completed over 360 add-on acquisitions which collectively represent a combined enterprise value at the time of acquisition of over $200 billion.